How are Bonuses in Trading Distance Calculated?

[sphyrth]

I just realized that I could've just experimented by playing the game, but I'm not on my home computer.
Are the bonuses computed by a "straight line" between the two Markets, or by how far the traders have zig-zagged between them?

[Loki1950]

Just the nodes matter as the bonus is not distance based the more markets the greater the return 

Enjoy the Choice

[sphyrth]

Wait. If I got that right, does that mean I can have my traders cycle through more than 2 markets?

[sanderd17]

Yes, you can cycle through multiple markets, but afaik, it doesn't give you extra gain.

Here's the formula used: http://trac.wildfiregames.com/browser/ps/trunk/binaries/data/mods/public/simulation/helpers/TraderGain.js

So it depends on the square of the straight-line distance, with some bonuses like for trading with a foreign market.

It is planned however to also take into account the number of markets you pass.

[sphyrth]

4 hours ago, sanderd17 said:

So it depends on the square of the straight-line distance, with some bonuses like for trading with a foreign market.

Thanks! And I just realized how exploit-y a non-straight-line trading bonus can be.

Please be patient with me on this thread, as I am pouring out all my questions concerning Market mechanics. I'm playing Alpha 20, so we'll be assuming that when a question pops out.

[elexis]

2 hours ago, sanderd17 said:

Yes, you can cycle through multiple markets

As far as I know it only cycles between two markets.

ffm made some tests back in the day and found that if the profit per trip is more than roughly 35 (if I recall correctly), it will be faster income than gathering from a mine without upgrades.

After taking the duration of the trip into account, the profit per distance increases linearily effectively.

See also wraitiis idea on how to rewrite the trading mechanic to a city-based approach:

 

[sanderd17]

Hmm, just tested it, and you can't cycle between more than two markets indeed. I thought someone implemented round-trips in the past. Must be mis-remembering.

[sphyrth]

Woah, talk about accidentally revisiting an old issue. Well, let's just work with a max of 2 markets then.

My next question is, "Do I lose resources when Trading? Yes, I'm aware of Bartering, and I'm learning to do that efficiently."

[Imarok]

On 11.7.2016 at 0:48 PM, sphyrth said:

My next question is, "Do I lose resources when Trading?"

No. You only have to pay resources to train traders. When you are trading you create resources out of nothing.

[sphyrth]

Except for desperate measures, I've learned to keep my Bartering Efficiency above 80%. Is that a good minimum, or should I at least keep it above 75%?

[fcxSanya]

On 11/07/2016 at 0:33 PM, sanderd17 said:

Hmm, just tested it, and you can't cycle between more than two markets indeed. I thought someone implemented round-trips in the past. Must be mis-remembering.

(I planned to answer this a bit earlier but it stuck in my bookmarks)

Georg implemented it in a patch attached here: http://trac.wildfiregames.com/ticket/1207, but as stated in the ticket description it was "dropped after some discussion (easily exploitable or if that is fixed hard to make obvious to the player)".

[leper]

The easily exploitable part is most likely fixed by now, or shouldn't be hard to solve for someone knowing that code. Not sure how to make it obvious to players, but I planned to use it on the trade route map (for the trading gaia/AI player) as most of the required code (apart from allowing to issue the right commands from the gui, and maybe some small adjustments in the command handlers in UnitAI) was merged in #3812 (and lots of later commits, and likely some cleanup is still missing).

[mickmca]

In my experience, the biggest Trade gain is from building a dock as far away as possible and trading with yourself.

I thought you needed a market to begin trading. Not true. Merchant ships can trade as soon as they are built.

[WhiteTreePaladin]

On 7/11/2016 at 4:33 AM, sanderd17 said:

Hmm, just tested it, and you can't cycle between more than two markets indeed. I thought someone implemented round-trips in the past. Must be mis-remembering.

That would be a neat feature.

[leper]

The biggest trade gain is trading with an ally over a long distance (though you only get a part of the traded value at the ally's market).

Cycles for traders are done in the wip code for the Silk Road map, however there is no gui support for creating such cycles.